"Yes!" Sarah sighed. She really did not like all of this traveling. They had almost reached Montenegro.
"Well, you know what; it's really close to where Laura is. We might even see her!" Caitlin said, trying to cheer them up. It didn't work.
"Remember, Laura is on her own mission. Something tells me that she doesn't want to have visitors," Xarissa complained. "And you were technically not even supposed to come with us; you're still recovering from that wound on your shoulder."
"Xarissa, that was uncalled for!" Sarah shouted. She didn't like this fighting on the inside either. Unfortunately, the rest of the ride was spent exchanging rude words and clever comebacks.
****************
Laura didn't like the idea that Rebecca and a stranger just happened to be turning a corner to Ada Street right then. She had to remove all of her tracks. How did Rebecca even know that she was in Montenegro? She remembered a required surgery on the shoulder when she had gone to Heritage. Of course! They had a tracking device on her! It made sense, but she didn't like the idea that they would use it. She needed to get it out before she went to rescue the prisoners. She started to drive towards Radan's house.
****************
“Where did it go?” Conner asked, looking up and down the streets.
“Turn there!” Rebecca yelled.
“What? What? I don’t see it!”
Rebecca yanked the wheel to the side. “I swear she went that way!”
“You could be wrong!” Conner said, getting control of the wheel and zooming down the road.
“I’m not! Just head that way!”
****************
Laura looked behind her. She didn’t see the car, so she sighed in relief and continued down the road on the motorcycle.
Who was that man with Rebecca? Could he be another HIA agent she didn’t know about?
But the car they were driving didn’t look like HIA property. The formations and curves were different, not to mention the form of the wheels. It must be a new make and model, one the HIA hadn’t yet added to the vehicle configurations. That meant whoever Rebecca was with was either a very rich kid in Montenegro or an agent for an organization with tech way more advanced than that of the HIA; it may sound silly, but the latter would be the more likely, considering their geographical location.
Laura sighed. What was going on?
****************
“Shoot!” The car slowed to a stop. It was a dead end. “I was sure she’d gone this way!” Rebecca looked desperately at Conner, who just smiled. “Oh, shut up!”
“What? I didn’t say anything,” he answered innocently. Rebecca started pushing a bunch of buttons. “There’s got to be something in here…”
“What are you doing? Do you even know--” He couldn’t finish what he was saying because suddenly the car started transforming. In a few seconds, they were sitting in a fully armor helicopter, the engine still running and the blades turning.
“Change seats!” Rebecca yelled, and started squeezing herself into the pilot’s seat.
“Hey! What are you—ow!”
“Scoot over!”
“Fine! Just…” Finally, they broke apart into opposite seats, and Conner sighed. “You make everything so difficult,” he said.
Rebecca pulled the throttle and the helicopter rose into the air. “Stop complaining.”
****************
Laura finally arrived at the house. She jumped off of the motorcycle and ran up to the door.
"Hey, it's you again! I didn't-"
"No time to explain! Let me inside!! Please!"
"Come in!"
Laura squeezed in and shut the door. She then ran to the window and peeked through the curtains.
She was horrified to hear the sounds of a helicopter.
****************
"There's the motorcycle, but I don't see Laura!" Rebecca started to land, quickly changing the copter into a car. But this time she made it less obvious and changed it to an Opel Insignia 2010 White.
"Knock on all of the doors?" Conner asked with a smile.
Rebecca gave him a skeptical look, then realized they really had no other choice. “Fine,” she agreed tensely.
Conner grinned as he stepped out of the car. He was beginning to enjoy this.
****************
Laura couldn't believe her eyes. The helicopter had just turned into a car, and Rebecca was running up to the door of the house that she was in.
She couldn't go into the cupboard: it was broken. Where could she hide?
The doorbell rang. Pavka was about to open the door when Laura yelled from the other room, “I’m not here!" and ran to the back window.
"Excuse, but is there a teenage girl here?"
"Maybe. What does she look like?"
"She's a bit shorter than I am, she has brown hair and eyes, and is being chased by a lot of people."
Pavka looked confused, but said that she had seen lots of girls with brown hair and eyes. She then closed the door, but Rebecca stopped her.
"May I search your house?"
Laura didn't stay to hear anymore. She jumped out of the window and ran around to the motorcycle.
The strange boy was there, checking out the motorcycle. Laura backed behind the house and watched him continue to stand next to it. Laura saw that the car-copter was empty and knew she shouldn’t let Rebecca and the guy have a way to follow her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do anything about it. Finally, she told herself she had to do it and stepped out of her hiding place.
Rebecca stepped out of the house, and Laura backed behind the corner again. “Sorry to bother you folks. I’ll just be on my way,” Laura heard Rebecca say. When Rebecca reached the boy and the bike, she looked around. “Why would the bike be in front of this house if she’s not here? And that lady sounded like she was holding something back.”
“Why is it so important that we find this Laura or whatever?” the guy asked.
Even from where she was, Laura could almost hear Rebecca sigh. “I don’t see why she has to do this alone,” Rebecca said. “I don’t see why I can’t come with.”
The boy looked at her skeptically. “You came all this way just to try to join in on her mission?”
“It’s not like that, Conner. She shouldn’t have to do this alone. I don’t like that she’s keeping secrets from me.” Rebecca looked away from the boy, and Laura had to step behind the house and back up against the wall so that she wouldn’t be seen. “It seems like I’m being rejected everywhere I go. This hasn’t been easy for me, you know.”
“Come back to the GCA. We’ll find a place for you there. You don’t have to worry about the HIA anymore,” the Conner boy said. Rebecca sighed again, and then the talking stopped. Laura risked a peek around the corner and saw Rebecca and Conner walking back to the helicopter.
What did she mean she was being rejected? None of that made sense. And why would she be working with the Global Conservation Agency instead of the HIA? What was going on?
The two teenagers started to board the helicopter, and suddenly Laura knew what she had to do.
****************